


The Doctor, the Wife and the Opal

by Leisey



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/F, Post-Episode: 2015 Xmas The Husbands of River Song, Space Wives
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-02
Updated: 2019-11-02
Packaged: 2021-01-18 19:00:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21281672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leisey/pseuds/Leisey
Summary: “What exactly are we looking for here, Doc?” Graham whispered.“An opal,” Ryan’s voice was low, but there was a clear smile in it.“Yeah, I gathered that, funnily enough,” Graham said sarcastically. “I meant what are we up against?”“And can we go back to the note?” Yaz murmured. “What kind of message is ‘Hello sweetie’?”“Oh, Yaz,” the Doctor said as the tunnel led out into a large alter and a very familiar figure came into view. “Those are the two most important words in the universe, and I’m about to prove it.”Or: When a sacred opal goes missing, the Doctor, River Song and Team TARDIS work together to get it back.
Relationships: The Doctor/River Song, Thirteenth Doctor/River Song
Comments: 17
Kudos: 342





	The Doctor, the Wife and the Opal

**Author's Note:**

  * For [YourOzness](https://archiveofourown.org/users/YourOzness/gifts).

The Doctor grinned as she stood at the TARDIS controls. 

She and the fam—gang?—team?—were off to Space Australia. Ryan had mentioned wanting to go to see “how those guys actually lost a war against emus” and the Doctor has suggested the galactic alternative. It was a bigger war, with larger, more advanced equipment, but the emus had still won.

“Never underestimate the emu,” the Doctor said, flipping a switch. “I did once, and the Australian’s had to put them on their currency.”

Ryan blinked. “Wait, what?”

“Well,” she shrugged. “More like I lost a bet.”

“What bet? With whom?” Yaz asked.

“The emus.”

A beat passed. “Hang on,” Graham said. “How can you lose a bet to an emu? You can’t make a bet with an emu, they can’t talk.”

“I speak emu,” the Doctor smiled beatifically at him as the TARDIS landed. “I speak everything. Who do you think negotiated the peace during the last Great Emu War?”

“Wait,” Ryan frowned in confusion. “So we’re not going to see the actual war?”

“Of course not,” she replied. “Who wants to see a war? Wars are dark, horrible things. Nothing but death and losses, even for the victors. Nothing good ever comes from war.”

“What are we going to see then?” Yaz asked.

“Something better,” the Doctor told them. “The Second Great Emu War was brutal; an utter _bloodbath_—five times worse than the Wooly Rebellion of 2211. When it ended, a monument was put in its place to commemorate it. On top of the monument is a giant opal, mined from the very ground the war took place on. Space Australia is famous for their black opals, you know?”

“What about normal-Australia?” Graham wanted to know. “Do they have nice opals?”

“They do,” she nodded as she walked over to the TARDIS doors. “But these are space opals, Graham. _Space_. Isn’t that brilliant?”

The Doctor held the door open for her friends and cheerfully continued explaining the monument. “It’s stands as a symbol of peace and a reminder that negotiation works better than violence. The opal is sacred to the local Indigenous people and is said to—”

She cut herself off as she stared open-mouthed at the monument. A short, stone monolith, it only reached up to shoulder height. But it’s crowning glory was the large rainbow opal that normally sat upon it, nestled on a golden ring.

“Uh, Doc, you okay?” Graham asked.

“What?” she continued to gape. “Why would someone—”

Her friends looked at her in concern and then followed her gaze. It only took a moment for her smart, amazing companions to see the grievous error in front of them.

“Where’s the opal?!” Ryan demanded, looking around as if to find it. “Where’s it gone?”

“Didn’t you just say it was _sacred_?” Graham looked indignant. “Who would steal a sacred stone? That ain’t right!”

As their two friends continued to protest, the Doctor and Yaz rushed over to inspect where the gemstone would usually sit.

“What are these circle markings?” Yaz asked, tracing them with her hand. “They look like they’ve been carved into the stone, but I can’t understand them. I thought the TARDIS translated everything?”

A myriad of emotions hit the Doctor in that moment. Indignant and offended that someone would dare steal a sacred stone that was left as a monument to the fallen. Excited, because the message could only mean one thing. Nervous, because that one thing generally came with danger and a lot of running involved. And love, because there was only one person in the universe that would carve a note like that.

“It’s Gallifreyan, so it doesn’t translate,” she said.

“What’s it say?” Graham asked, as he and Ryan came over to study the markings in interest.

“They’re space-time coordinates,” she told them, “and a message.”

“What message?” Ryan wanted to know.

The Doctor tore her eyes away from the markings to look at her friends, unable to stop the smile that appeared on her face as she answered. 

“It’s says ‘Hello, sweetie.’”

* * *

“Doc, what’s going on?” Graham clung to the TARDIS rails as they hurtled through the time vortex. “Where are we going?”

“The opal’s been stolen and the one who left the message is either the one who stole it or is on a dangerous quest to get it back,” the Doctor replied, flipping switches as she tried to pilot the ship as fast as she could. “Either way, she needs help.”

Yaz’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “You’re friends with a thief?” 

“No, worse. An _archaeologist_.” A beat passed. “Although it could be argued that they’re the same thing. I _told _those German archaeologists that Nefertiti’s bust should go back to Egypt but did they listen? _No_. I met Nefertiti once, you know. I should have asked her what she thought about that. Mind you, we didn’t have a lot of time to talk with all the dinosaurs on the spaceship.”

Silence followed her words, only to be eventually broken by Graham. “You know, Doc, one day I’m not gonna be surprised about some of the stuff that happens around you.”

“Ten quid says it won’t happen anytime soon, Gramps,” Ryan quipped.

“Deal.”

The TARDIS landed and the Doctor rushed to the doors. There was a tense moment as they looked around outside, but they all relaxed at the sign of no immediate danger. Instead, a large, ancient temple loomed ahead of them. The Doctor led the way inside, one hand staying close to her pocket, ready to pull out her sonic screwdriver. Her hearts pounded as they slowly walked down the dark, dusty halls, eyes taking in the ancient carvings and remnants of a lost civilisation.

“What exactly are we looking for here, Doc?” Graham whispered.

“An opal,” Ryan’s voice was low, but there was a clear smile in it.

“Yeah, I gathered that, funnily enough,” Graham said sarcastically. “I meant what are we up against?”

“And can we go back to the note?” Yaz murmured. “What kind of message is ‘Hello sweetie’?”

“Oh, Yaz,” the Doctor said as the tunnel led out into a large alter and a very familiar figure came into view. “Those are the two most important words in the universe, and I’m about to prove it.”

River Song stood with her back to them in the middle of the room and surveyed the area with her scanner, dressed in her usual adventuring outfit, and a blaster strapped to her thigh.

“And what sort of time do you call this?” the familiar line made the Doctor’s hearts pang. “I sent that message nearly two rotations ago.” River turned to face them and her expression lit up in comprehension. “Oh, I see. You’ve redecorated.”

Despite the Doctor standing at the front of their group, River’s eyes immediately zeroed in on Ryan and Graham, the only two males in the room. That made sense, her wife had never seen her as a woman, after all. Time to prove who she was.

“Hello, sweetie.”

River’s eyes lit up and she smirked, as beautiful and dangerous as ever. She put the scanner away and approached them, her eyes trailing up and down the Doctor’s new body. “Oh, sweetie, you’ve _really _redecorated.”

The Doctor could sense her fam exchanging confused glances at the term of endearment, but it was like the rest of the universe had fallen away from them. All that mattered was looking at River, drinking her in and committing her to memory. She didn’t think she would see River again after Darillium but here she was, live, real and _whole_. 

She didn’t think she’d see her wife again. She thought their final goodbye on Darillium would be the last time she would be to touch, hold and feel River. The Doctor had done remarkable well that day, considering the circumstances. She cried in the TARDIS after the fact, but kept it together enough to wave River off on her expedition to the Library with a smile and a kiss that lingered.

The Doctor still dreamt about that kiss, even years later. 

“What do you think?” she asked as River circled her, taking her in from every angle. “I definitely think my legs used to be longer.”

River stopped in front of her. “You’re _delectable_, Doctor. I could just eat you up. And you’re adorable, it’s going to be fun making you blush.” As if on cue, the Doctor felt her cheeks flush and River laughed delightedly. “There we go! Oh the things we could do together—the mind races!”

Really, she should have expected a response like that. Flustered, the Doctor could only babble. “I—you—River—stop it.”

_“Make me.”_

The Doctor moved without really thinking about it, unable to keep her distance, pulled in by the magnetic gravity that was River Song. She could make River stop and had a wonderful idea of how to do it.

She reached up—that was new, she really used to be taller—to cup River’s face and bring her down for a kiss. Sweet and chaste, it was over in moments, but worth it for the smile it brought to River’s face when they broke apart and stared wordlessly at each other.

“Right, sorry, can I just interrupt?” Graham spoke up, sounding dumbfounded. “What’s going on here? Cause I’m a bit confused.”

“Proper confused,” Ryan agreed and Yaz nodded.

She startled, feeling even more flustered than moments before. Right, there were people there with them. People who had just seen them kiss. Friends who had no idea who River was. Introductions were needed. The Doctor was great at introductions; she did them all the time—

“I’m Professor River Song, an archaeologist from the Lunar University,” River beat her to it. “I’m The Doctor’s wife.”

There was a beat of silence as her friends all took that in and then; “_WHAT_?!”

“You’re married?!”

“Why didn’t you tell us?”

“Get it, Doctor!”

“Sweetie, why didn’t you say anything?” River looked like she was enjoying this far too much. “I’m hurt.”

The Doctor’s blush refused to disappear. “Stop teasing.” She turned to introduce her friends. “This is Ryan, Graham and Yaz.”

Her wife and fam politely greeted one another, but it wasn’t long before her friends went back to the massive surprise the Doctor had just dropped on them.

“How long have you been married for?” Yaz asked, grinning.

“A few hundred years,” they answered in unison.

“Well,” the Doctor continued over the shocked expressions of her companions. “A four and a half billion, if you want to count the years I was trapped in that Gallifreyan confession dial.”

Wordlessly, Graham took out his wallet and handed Ryan ten pounds.

Yaz looked thunderstruck. “You’re four and a half billion years old?” 

The Doctor scrunched her face and shook her head. “Nah, I was essentially stuck in a time loop for that, so I don’t really count it. I tend to lose track of my actual age, though.” She turned to River. “Do you know?”

Her wife smiled. “Well, when I last saw your grumpy, Scottish younger self on Darillium, he was grumbling, ‘I’m two thousand and something years old, River, I don’t need a babysitter while I go and buy milk.’”

She nodded and grinned at her astonished companions. “Right, I’m two thousand and some—_hang on,_” she turned back to her wife, looking indignant. “Are you saying that while I popped out to get milk, you went off adventuring after an opal _with me?!”_

River smirked and held up her vortex manipulator. “A girl’s got to have a hobby, dear, and you won’t ever notice I’m gone.”

“Well, I’ll notice _now_.”

River just smirked even more—if that were possible—and raised an eyebrow.

“Vortex manipulators,” she huffed, crossing her arms. “Cheap and nasty time travel. I should have broken that years ago.”

Her wife just patted her consolingly on the arm. “There there, dear.”

In a valiantly attempt to get things back on track, the Doctor quickly changed the subject. “But the opal. River, do you have any idea who took it?”

“Word on the black market is that—”

“The _black market,_” Yaz interjected, no doubt her police training kicking into gear.

River looked amused at the interruption. “Where else would you sell valuable, highly dangerous goods?”

“How is an opal dangerous?” Ryan asked in confusion.

“Ah well, about that,” the Doctor spoke up. “Space Australian opals are explosive.”

“Hang on, does that mean you brought us to a monument that could _blow up_—”

“It was supposed to be an educational experience on the stupidity of war, Graham, let’s not get held up of the technicalities. The opals only explode when subjected to extreme heat.”

“It’s _Australia_, it’s _hot—_”

“Which brings me to my next point. River, this is the temple of the Yoongari People, right? Natives of the Hoomf planet?”

“Yes, sweetie.”

“And their most sacred object, missing from this very room, is—”

“The Hoomfarian Diamond; also highly explosive.”

“Right,” the Doctor nodded, then paused to stare quizzically at her wife. “A diamond again? Why do you and I keep chasing after diamonds?”

“A couple has to have a hobby, dear.”

“Well better than that time I took up live chess,” she shrugged. “But what were you saying about who took them?”

“I’ve heard rumours that AI loyalists are using them to get back at the humans who are lobbying for more work across the galaxy.” River gasped, clearly realising something. “Doctor! There’s a major pro-human protest happening on Marianas Five, if the gems could be planted and set to go off—”

“Thousands of people could die,” the Doctor finished.

“This is like the opposite of Charlie and the Kerblam men,” Graham said. 

“Why would people blow someone up just cause they want work?” Ryan asked. “I mean, my old job sucked but I didn’t want to kill anyone over it.”

“Never underestimate the lazy and the effort they’ll put into not doing work,” the Doctor replied darkly. “Come on, gang, back to the TARDIS. We’ve got a protest to save!”

She took off in a sprint, only just managing to catch Ryan’s, “Is there always running involved?”

“Yes,” River said, as both she and Yaz moved to stop him from tripping. “There tends to be a lot of that.”

They made it back to the TARDIS and barrelled inside. River was the last in and stopped at the sight of the brand new interior. “Oh, look at you,” she breathed. “You’re _gorgeous_.”

“Isn’t she wonderful?” the Doctor gestured around the control room and the TARDIS gave a happy hum. “She’s missed you.”

River walked over to the controls and smiled softly, running a hand along them. “I missed _her_.” 

Her wife began flipping switches and expertly piloting the TARDIS, despite the new controls. The Doctor was still struggling to figure out the new system, but River knew instantly what to do. It would infuriate her if she wasn’t so delighted at seeing River do it again in the first place.

“How do you know how to fly the TARDIS?” Graham asked, before turning to the Doctor. “Doc, _you _can’t even pilot it.”

“Oi! I’m getting better at the new interface, thank you very much. And the Old Girl and I have an understanding: she doesn’t always take me where I want to go, but always takes me where I need to be.” She looked back over at her wife. “Besides, River takes all the fun out of it and takes the breaks off.”

“Just because you like that groaning noise, dear, doesn’t mean it’s supposed to happen,” River said as the TARDIS landed on the planet of Marianas Five.

“River!”

Her wife grinned at the others. “_Such_ a backseat driver.”

They left the TARDIS and found themselves in a small alleyway. At the end, a large crowd of people were marching past them, shouting chants and holding up various brightly coloured signs.

“The protest has already started,” the Doctor realised, digging her psychic paper out of her coat and throwing it to Graham. “You lot take this, use it to get those people out of here. Be as firm as you like and as quick as you can. River and I will find the gems and the people responsible.”

“How will we find you again?” Yaz asked.

“Oh, just follow the sounds of shouting, running and possible explosions and you’ll find us easily,” River answered. 

The gang looked dubious, as if they weren’t sure if she was serious. The Doctor just nodded and took her wife’s hand. “Okay, everyone. Good luck. Stay safe.”

With that, she took off in one direction, dragging River along with her, and her friends went in the other. The Doctor would be lying if she had ulterior motives in splitting up their group. After so long since last seeing her, she wanted a moment alone with her wife, even if it was while they were madly rushing to stop a group of homicidal zealots. 

“Just like our last diamond hunt, isn’t it, sweetie?” River laughed as they ran. 

“At least no one’s shooting at us this go around.”

“Give me some time.”

“_River_.”

It was amazing how they seem to slot back into place, as if the years between them meant nothing. And perhaps it didn’t for River—she had come from Darillium, after all—but it had been years since the Doctor had last seen her, and it felt like she had never said goodbye. River Song, as breathtaking as ever, standing by her side like always.

Perhaps that meant that the goodbye would hurt more this time, but the Doctor refused to think on it.

It took them no time at all to deduce where the AI loyalists were hiding and figure out their plan. A group of people who normally relied on AI to do most of the thinking and work for them would have had a very intricate plan. Catacomb tunnels under the protest march and two highly explosive space gemstones were the best they could come up with.

Simple, but deadly.

One evacuated protest, a lot of sonic-ing, blasting, running, an explosion and a heartfelt speech to put the loyalist in their place later, the gang was returning to the TARDIS to go take the gemstones back to their proper homes.

“There,” the Doctor said as they placed the opal back on the monument. “Back where it belongs.”

A silence reigned as they took a moment to bask in pride for what they’d done. Hundreds of lives saved, and those responsible sent to the authorities with a new worldview. 

“I should go back to where I belong as well,” River spoke up, sending the Doctor a regretful look. “After all, your grumpy, Scottish self will be back from the milk run anytime now.”

“He can wait,” she replied automatically, unwilling to say goodbye just yet.

Her wife ignored her and turned to the others. “It was lovely to meet you all. Please do take care of my sweetie, as she does tend to attract trouble.”

The others all gave her hugs, but it was clear they could feel the tension in the air. The regret and longing building between the two married women as they said their farewells.

“But why—?” Ryan began, clearly unsure why the two of them couldn’t be together.

“Come on, son,” Graham said, sensing that the Doctor and River needed to be alone and guiding his grandson and Yaz back to the TARDIS. “Let’s go have a cuppa, eh?”

Left alone, silence fell over them. The Doctor took that moment to study her wife, a little singed and windswept from their adventure, but beautiful. River’s smile—the high of their previous victory—was fading, replaced by the reluctance of goodbye.

“We didn’t even do diaries this time,” she said. “I guess that means there’s not much left.”

The Doctor stepped closer to her. She gently reached up to cup her wife’s face and said a word both of them were familiar with, “Spoilers.”

Then in one smooth motion, she pulled her down for another kiss, but this was nothing like their last one. This was hard, desperate and a bit off centre, but River quickly corrected it, wrapping her arms around her to pull the Doctor closer.

“River,” she whispered as she pulled away, unable to voice anything more than that.

“Speechless, sweetie?” River said, moving her head slightly to press a kiss to the Doctor’s hand that was still cupping her cheek. “There really _is _a first time for everything.”

It wasn’t that she was speechless, but that she had too much to say. _I love you, don’t go, I wish we had more time_, were all things on the tip of her tongue, but how could she explain it all? How could she properly describe that River was more valuable than any gemstone, or that she never left her hearts? That River Song, Melody Pond, was as beautiful as starlight and as radiant as the sun? That she had only just survived losing her, but pushed on through the pain and sadness? That she loved her wife through the entirety of time and space and would continue to do so long after she was gone?

Instead, she decided to play by the rules of time and said, “You can’t tell my younger selves about this face—spoilers and all that.”

“I understand. I won’t say a word.”

They leaned in again, lips meeting in a gentle kiss. Gone was the desperation of before, and now they simply basked in the sensation of each other. The Doctor melted in her wife’s arms, sighing in contentment as a feeling of _home _washed over her. Her hands reached up to bury her hands in River’s curls—she had always loved River’s hair—as she tried to hold her closer.

This kiss said all the things the Doctor couldn’t bring herself to say. An unspoken _I love you_ and _I miss you_ all in one. It spoke of River’s worry about their limited time together and the Doctor’s promise of tomorrow. Their story wasn’t over for River, not yet. There was still tomorrow, still Darillium, still Trenzalore, still _time_.

For the Doctor, it was a goodbye.

With great effort, she pulled out of the kiss. “If you don’t leave now, I’ll never let you go.”

River looked sad but still so, so beautiful. “There are worse things,” she said, even as she started programming her vortex manipulator. 

The Doctor let out a laugh, trying very hard to stay composed. “You’re always here to me, even when you’re gone. Time and galaxies might be between us, River, but never doubt that you are loved. By so many and so much, and by no one more than me.”

River smiled, recognising the words. “Likewise, Doctor.” She leaned in to press one final kiss to the Doctor’s lips. “Goodbye, sweetie.”

She stepped back and pressed a button on her vortex manipulator. With a buzz of electricity, her wife disappeared, leaving the Doctor standing in front of the monument alone. The farewell had hurt and the Doctor clutched at her chest, taking a fortifying breath as she blinked the tears out of her eyes.

The Doctor looked at the opal, a symbol of love and passion; it was fitting that she and her wife were reunited to return such an artefact. Some said that the opal showed you that everything you put out into the universe has a way of coming back to you, and the Doctor hoped that meant that she would see more of her wife in the future.

Determined to shake off her melancholy feeling and believe in that possibility, the Doctor walked back to her ship with a more optimistic spring in her step. When she reached the TARDIS doors, she turned back for one last look at the opal and the place where her wife had been.

“See you around, Professor River Song,” she said, soft and fervent, with a smile pulling at her lips.

It wasn’t a goodbye, but a promise.

Her hearts lighter, the Doctor entered the TARDIS, where her friends and their next adventure waited. Who’s to say she wouldn’t see her wife again? The universe was filled with amazing things, miracles, and happy endings, after all. She was sure it would happen. They had all of time and space to find each other once more. 

Just watch them run.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone!
> 
> This fic is for YourOzness and I really hope you like it!
> 
> I haven't written for Doctor Who in years, so I hope this is up to scratch. Writing it totally gave me an excuse to rewatch series 11 and lots of Doctor/River videos and I regret nothing.  
And, as always, thank you to Livinglittlelie for the beta.
> 
> (Also, can you guys tell I'm an Aussie? Lmao)
> 
> Please let me know what you thought in the comments!
> 
> Much love,
> 
> Leisey.


End file.
